Elder statesman, Professor Ben Nwabueze, said the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, was about to change his mind and agree to an amicable resolution with the southeast governors after meeting with them.
Punch reports that Nwabueze, in a statement made available to journalists in Enugu on Monday, September 18, said Kanu was about to change his mind about boycotting the upcoming election in Anambra state.
The elder statesman said Kanu changed his mind after his Umuahia residence was invaded by the Nigerian army.
He said: “On 30th August, 2017, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko and I met with the Southeast Governors Forum.
“The meeting was chaired by the current chairman of the forum and governor of Ebonyi state, Dave Umahi, who, in his conduct of the meeting, exhibited his characteristic sagacity, candour and forthrightness, tempered with friendliness.
Perhaps charmed by the things said by the chairman and the way he conducted the meeting, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on his part, showed an accommodating disposition for an amicable resolution of the crisis and more specifically a disposition to reconsider the threat to stop or disrupt the 2019 elections and the Anambra state governorship election on November 18, 2017, but emphasized that the decision did not lie with him alone and that the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra must be carried along.
“Accordingly, it agreed to meet with the leadership of IPOB in order to try to secure their agreement and support. Regrettably, while the follow-up meeting was being arranged, the attack on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s home in Umuahia by soldiers of the Nigerian Army on September 10, 2017, occurred as reported in the news media, which, expectedly, triggered clashes between the IPOB supporters and the Army in Aba, Umuahia and other places, resulting in the death of, or injury to, several people.”
Nwabueze said that Kanu would have attended the second meeting with the governors if the Nigerian army had not made an attempt on his life.
He said: “Despite all this, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu made it known that, in the spirit of a search for amicable resolution of the crisis, he would still attend the planned meeting, now fixed for Friday, September 15, 2017.
“However, a day or so before that date, another attack on his Umuahia residence by soldiers, armed with guns and armoured vehicles, was reported in the media, which caused Nnamdi Kanu to renounce his intention to attend the planned meeting.
“It seems unreasonable and unfeeling to expect him to attend the meeting when the casualties included two of his cousins.
“The meeting should be reconvened when the tension caused by these developments had quietened down.”
Meanwhile, former president Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to a statement by minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, campaigned for Nigeria’s unity during his tenure.
Jonathan denied sponsoring Kanu to agitate for secession or frustrate the effort of the Buhari’s administration.
In a statement released on his official Facebook page and signed by his spokesperson, Reno Omokri, Jonathan said accusing him of sponsoring IPOB has shown that the Buhari’s adminstration is yet to leave propaganda for a proper agenda almost three years after getting into power.
